Question 1: The question I asked above is a challenging one, because I’m asking you to use Foucault’s theories to examine some assumptions we make about “mental illness” as a discourse. While I think it can be useful in some ways to construct anorexia as a mental illness (rather than, for example, a “lifestyle choice”, as discussed in the lecture and readings), there are also limits to this discourse.
What do you think those limits might be? What assumptions do we make about anorexia and the people who have it when we deploy this discourse? Question 2: A-Do you think Bartky believes an inclusive/empowering/liberated form of normative femininity is possible? Is it possible to produce “femininity” without reproducing these restrictive norms of beauty, appearance, and behaviour? B-What do you think the core elements of this feminine identity would be in order to make it liberatory? Would it be possible to construct this femininity without also changing the way we value the current form of normative masculinity? PLEASE DO NOT ANSWER A BUT ONLY B QUESTION.